Abstract [en]

The overall purpose of the project is to use a before and after study to evaluate the effect of a pilot project in which individuals who were not already travelling on public transport got to try it for two weeks. Another aim is to offer an account of attitudes towards public transport in purely general terms, and the differences between those who travel by car and those who use public transport.

110 residents of urban Motala (living within a radius of 3 km from Motala travel centre) took part in the before study. In the study, the participants were asked whether they were interested in trying public transport, which meant that they would be given a free travel pass worth SEK 500, valid for 14 days. This question was directly solely at those who, at the time of the study, were not using public transport to make their most common trip. Among those who responded to the before questionnaire were 11 people who were willing to take part and who also met the criterion. This was an insufficient number, so recruiting was also carried out via social media. The final number of people who tried out public transport was 41; these people also completed the after questionnaire.

The results from the before study, in which only residents of urban Motala took part, showed that 40 per cent drove themselves in a car when making their most common trip, which was primarily travel to work. Roughly one quarter responded that they intended to travel by bus or train within the next three weeks, with the proportion being somewhat lower for the train than for the bus. Analyses were then performed to determine whether there were any differences between two groups – those who never travelled by bus or train and those who did so occasionally or often. It is important to point out in this context that only those who could take the bus or the train to make their most common trip responded. The results for the bus showed that the two groups differed significantly with respect to all the questions related to attitude to travel by bus. Those who were already travelling by bus were considerably more positively disposed towards doing so than those who were not. Compared to the others, it was primarily those who travelled by bus who considered that it was a fast way to travel, that they felt free, and that it was inexpensive. Attitudes toward trains did not always differ between the two different groups in a significant way, although those who occasionally/often travelled by train were more positively disposed than those who did not use the train. As was the case for bus travel, the biggest difference had to do with such travel making them feel free, but also that they could relax, and how quickly the trips went.